An organization called the American Revolution Center has released a study showing how little most Americans know about US history.
Now, one of these “wow, we’re dumb” reports pops up at least every six months or so and really…having to do a study to prove that most Americans are woefully ignorant of basic historical facts is right down there on the “well, duh” scale with things like “A study to show Wisconsin people’s preference for cheese over tofu” and directed research definitively linking “sex” and “pregnancy.”
Nevertheless, since I spend a fair amount of time on this space mocking the level of historical understanding by the Chinese leadership, I thought it would be fair to share a few of the gems from this particular report:
- In spite of pledging allegiance to “the republic for which it stands,” equal numbers of American adults mistakenly believe the Constitution established a government of direct democracy, rather than a democratic republic. (While this basic fact is included on the naturalization exam for immigrants to qualify for U.S. citizenship, more than half of the Americans polled do not know it.)
- More than 50 percent of Americans wrongly attributed the quote, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” to George Washington, Thomas Paine, or President Barack Obama, when it is in fact a quote from Karl Marx, author of “The Communist Manifesto.”
- Many more Americans remember that Michael Jackson sang “Beat It” than know that the Bill of Rights is part of the Constitution.
- 60 percent of Americans can correctly identify the number of children in reality-TV show couple Jon and Kate Gosselin’s household (eight), but more than one-third do not know the century in which the American Revolution took place. Half of those surveyed believe the Civil War, Emancipation Proclamation, or War of 1812 occurred before the American Revolution.
- Especially notable at a time when thousands of political protesters hold “tea parties” around the nation, more than half of Americans do not know that the outcome of the Boston Tea Party was not a repeal of taxes, but rather that it prompted British actions that ignited American patriotism and sparked the Revolution.
- One-third of Americans do not know that the right to a jury trial is covered in the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights, while 4-in-10 mistakenly think that the right to vote is.
So there you have it…cringe or mock away, depending upon the color of your passport.
(h/t History News Network)
